We could say that the Buddha was teaching us to breath again. It’s said that the prince Siddhartha was sitting under a Bodhi tree, practicing the anapanasati (the mindfulness of breathing) when he gained enlightenment and became awake, a Buddha. He was aware of the whole experience of breathing. Through breathing he trained the mind to be sensitive to the body, rapture, pleasure, the mind, mental processes, impermanence, dispassion, cessation, relinquishment. And while breathing he learned to release the mind from suffering. In this session we explore turning towards experience with breathing.
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Breath as Medicine
Recorded :
January 5, 2025 Join us for our first Sunday Sangha session of the year on January 5th with Vimalasara Mason-John, inviting us to breathe into the new year with equanimity. It was through the potency of the breath that Prince Siddhartha became awake. It’s said that at the time of enlightenment, the Buddha was practicing anapanasati, the mindfulness…
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A Global Crisis. The Wisdom of Action while Living with Uncertainty
Recorded :
May 31, 2020 The Mind/Body Crisis provides an opportunity to wake up or live in fear and despair. Are our politicians, billionaires, pharmaceutical industry, food industry, and scientists fit for purpose?Change is required. Inner and Outer. Radical. Unprecedented.Are we fit for purpose?What do we have to offer?
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Nirmala Werner – Week of March 20 – 24, 2023
This week’s topic is “The Art of Embodied Listening”. This week is an invitation to explore the skill of true, deep and embodied listening. Living in a culture where people are mainly self-focused, wanting to express themselves, we can look into our capacity to listen. Rather than talking to ourselves we can learn listening with our whole body to others, ourselves and to silence in which all phenomena arises. Creating space to express, really tuning into “what’s going on here?“ enables our stress, worries, fear and insecurities to be unveiled and liberated and is a powerful tool for cultivating insights.
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Changing the Channel: Opening to Goodness
Recorded :
January 7, 2024 The barrage of frightening headlines often leaves us with feelings of despair, hopelessness, and negativity. While it’s important to feel connected to the suffering all around us, it is equally important to nourish ourselves by opening to the goodness in life–both inside and around us. Our caring can then be held with more spaciousness and…
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The noble jewel of Right Effort
Recorded :
March 11, 2018 Right Effort is a jewel within a jewel. We investigate the Four Right Exertions that fuel Right Effort and the Hindrances that attempt to derail our intention. You will gain insight into why the Buddha referenced Right Effort as one of his eight precious disciples, which is a daily chant in the monasteries.
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Genuine Happiness: An Alternative Perspective
Recorded :
March 10, 2024 So much of what we hear and learn about within Dharma practice places an arguably unnecessary emphasis on suffering (dukkha). While the acceptance of suffering (dukkha) is an important and essential aspect of the path, it is by no means the end of the story. In one of the Buddha’s oldest descriptions of what it…
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Kaira Jewel Lingo – Week of April 27
We’re fortunate that Kaira Jewel Lingo has generously offered to lead our daily meditation sessions for Europe and the UK this week. Links mentioned during these sessions can be found at the bottom of this page. To find out more about Kaira Jewel, and view her other recordings on the platform, click here. Monday, April…
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Body and space / matter and consciousness.
Recorded :
May 29, 2016 How can we become more grounded and more intimate with ourselves while becoming more spacious and free from endless random mental chatter? Let’s explore in the ways in which the body is such a precious help for meditation practice and in mindfulness in everyday life. Let’s explore as well the central role of space, emptiness,…
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